Thanks to everyone who came out to help us celebrate bike week at the market! The sun was shining and wheels were turning as bikes of all sorts and purposes came through the market. Many people took the opportunity to get their bikes tuned from Bike Sauce. Thanks Bike Sauce! Tune Your Ride and Bradley James McGoey entertained the crowd with their bike powered band and Ward 32 spokes was present with spiffy uniforms and Ward 32 biking info. Big thanks to our keen student market volunteers who helped with setup and ran Foodshare’s bike blender smoothie station.

This week we are hosting a POP UP Adventure Playground (now called #earthplay) facilitated by Earth Day Canada and PlaybyNature. What does this mean, you might ask? Well, a POP UP Adventure Playground doesn’t really have to mean anything - it can be interpreted in many different ways and has a unique effect on each individual who participates. Geared towards kids and always based in a park, a POP UP Adventure Playground comes kitted with basic supplies - normally centred around a theme - and then lets the kids decide what sort of playground they are going to make with the materials provided! The theme for this Wednesday is “MUD” as it will be International Mud Day! The event takes place on the last day of school, so there will certainly be a ton of creative juices flowing fuelled by kids excitement for summer!

This is the perfect opportunity for parents to support our market with a little shop while the kids get into some serious play!

Vendor Profile

Blackbird Baking Co. is always a hit at our market. With their popular sourdough breads, you can never go wrong with a stop at their market stand. Kind and humble owner, Simon Blackwell, will help you choose the perfect bread for your market meal. Each loaf really packs in it’s own unique set of flavours and the texture is super - oven baked to perfection! The company uses all organic red fife wheat to produce a variety of their flour. This is Canada’s first heritage grain, and thus the company carries on a legacy of a wheat crop that is localized and carries a long historical lineage.

Come out to the market to take in a wide assortment of bread of all shades, shapes and sizes that Simon and Blackbird Baking Co. have crafted for you. It is not uncommon to see little children running around the market with hands clasped around a sourdough baguette covered with sizeable bite marks!

Product Highlights

Spinach: The organic spinach from Ignatius Farm is THE freshest! I have been buying a bag weekly and have found it lasts longer than the grocery store version, my kids like it better and it just has the most incredible flavour. I also know that fresher greens pack a more powerful antioxidant punch! Spinach is the perfect compliment for strawberries in a salad, in a lovely green smoothie or can easily be sautéed with a bit of garlic scape and butter for a savoury side.

Strawberries: It sounds wrong to say that the market strawberries taste like candy apple...but that’s what I get when I eat Ignatius Farm organic strawberries! We have been obsessed with stocking these at home and have enjoyed them on their own, with pancakes, in a salad and drizzled with some sour cream and brown sugar (ala my granny). We have yet to bake or can these little delights; they are just too amazing eaten fresh!

Peas: Once the peas arrive at market, they appear in almost every dish at home! Yes, we love snacking on them raw, adding them to a salad but also love making a creamy pea and pasta dish, pea risotto and my kids favourite sautéed peas with bacon. I think we will give this Linguine with Pea Pesto a try next. And don’t forget, freezing peas is super easy and allows you to enjoy fresh peas all year round! You can find peas from Cedarhedge Farm and P & V Farm.

Grass-Fed Beef: If you are going to eat red meat, grass-fed beef is the way to go! And Rolling Hills Organics sells the best 100% grass-fed beef. This means that it isn’t sent off for fattening on grains before being processed - rather the cattle live and grow only on grass. Not only will your body benefit from grass-fed beef, your palate will celebrate because it’s tastes incredible. Buy by the piece or order a side from Peter at Rolling Hills Organics!

Radishes: These spicy, crunchy, colourful gems are a highlight of the season. They are packed with nutritional value and have so many applications in the kitchen. Make a radish quick pickle for a quick condiment to add to salads and sandwiches or grate them into savoury potato pancakes for a punch. Shred them for tacos or coleslaw and a dinner favourite is pan roasting with seasonal herbs and a touch of maple syrup - a perfect side to a grass-fed beef steak. Radishes can be picked up at the market from Fiddle Head Farm, Cedarhedge and Ignatius farm. ​

In the Garden...

After spending weeks starting my seedlings indoors this year, I was excited to transplant them into my garden back in early May. I thought for some reason, maybe, just maybe the T.O squirrels would stay away. But alas, a few days after transplanting, the squirrels had decimated all my carefully grown kale, swiss chard and other plants. I’ve always wondered, how might I be able to keep squirrels out of my garden for good? Yesterday, we came up with what might be the perfect solution. We created a chicken wire box covers for our raised beds. Built with 2x2’s and at about 30” high, we constructed a wood frame and then surrounded the frame with chicken wire. It’s a super simple yet very effective design with hinges on the front for easy access. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this solution earlier! It most certainly would have saved me from trying out other methods, one of which included a trip to the dog groomers to collect dog hair for my garden!

On Stage...

The market stage will be hosting local musician, Kristin Lindell, who will be playing from 3-5pm; her upbeat summer music will surely get everyone’s toes tapping! Accompanying her on guitar will be Trevor Owen. The Upper Beach Music School will perform from 5-7pm. This vibrant performance will consist of students and faculty, and you! Stop by to try your hand at violin or fiddle.

Community...

At 5pm, feel free to come and help us put up our wooden fence decorations - painted in previous years, that are waiting to be shown off on our fence at Fairmount Park.

The Fairmount Park Running Club hosted by Upper Beach Health and Wellness leaves the market at 5:45. The beginners session goes until July 20th. The advanced session starts July 27th. Come join Sarah King for a market run! More details on our home page www.fairmountmarket.ca